Covalent
by Jiemme
Summary: "Terra, tell me, are you pretending to be dumb in Chemistry so Aqua would tutor you?" Riku snorted. Sometimes Terra wished he could pour acid on his younger brother. [Terra/Aqua College AU]
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Kingdom Hearts.

**A/N: **So apparently I edited the first chapter and it got ruined. So here we go again. XD

**Original A/N: **College AU just because. XD I'm a frustrated college student, and I wanted to make Terra suffer with me in Chemistry. Please read? :D (Don't worry, Aqua will be in the next chapter)

**Covalent**

Chapter I

_"When a chemical reaction occurs, chemical bonds are either formed or broken. Or both."_

**...**

It had been a week since the first day of classes, but Terra was still adjusting his body clock to spring him up early in the morning. The only reason he had to wake up early in the first place was because of heavy traffic in downtown Twilight Town, but he didn't have to endure it if it weren't for 7 o'clock General Chemistry classes.

This was all Zack's fault. Take an engineering degree program with me, he said. You'll love it, he said. You can handle it, he said. He even convinced his father to make Terra take engineering. The brunet agreed since he liked the challenge, but he overlooked the Chemistry classes stated in his course curriculum.

Well, Zack clearly knew how Terra screwed up most of their Chemistry experiments when they were in high school. He was grateful Cloud was his lab partner because he knew what he was doing, but without Cloud in the picture… Terra felt screwed.

He drove his car to the parking lot of the Physical Sciences Lecture Building of Twilight Town University and spotted Zack at the staircase of the building. After making sure his backpack had the necessities and his car was locked, he approached Zack with a tired expression.

"Dude, you do know we don't have Chemistry classes today, right?" his dark-haired friend said. Terra raised a brow at him and groaned.

"It's Tuesday, moron. We HAVE Chemistry today," he grumbled, crossing his arms.

Zack's eyes glinted in humor. "Well, technically, we have a Chemistry class scheduled, but our professor sent us an email that he won't be present today due to health issues. Tsk, he shouldn't have eaten the cafeteria's fish tacos last week. I knew those were rotten."

Terra's eyebrows slowly creased together in disbelief, his lips forming a light scowl. He was so wrapped up in reviewing about half-lives and radioisotopes to even check his email. And he usually received spam, which lessened his interest with emailing in the first place.

"You're not trying to pull one on me, right?" he asked with a straight face. Zack shrugged and grinned.

"N'aww. Then I would have texted you to meet me in the classroom. But I waited for you, right?" he answered with a cheeky tone. His tone wasn't convincing, much to the brun's annoyance.

A sigh left his lips. "Why didn't you message me about it, then?"

Zack rolled his eyes. "Come on, Terra. You're the responsible one! I expected you to know about it! I'm actually waiting for… well, you'll see."

Terra gave up and sat on the staircase. Zack probably stalked a girl he became interested in and "researched" to find her schedule.

"In three, two, one…"

A silver car drove by in front of them before stopping at the parking lot. A girl in a pink sundress was escorted off the vehicle, and Terra glanced at Zack, making sure his guess was right. Indeed, it has been a while since he saw Zack's eyes widen into dinner plates.

"Miss Gainsborough, are you sure you don't want me to drive you to the Home Economics building instead?" he overheard the driver ask.

"It's okay, Aeleus," the girl answered sweetly. "I want to walk, it's not too far anyway."

"Are you sure? It looks like a ten-minute walk, Miss."

"My classes don't start until 7:30. I can manage."

"I'd do anything to escort that cute girl everywhere anytime," Terra heard Zack say to himself. Typical Zack.

Once the car drove away, Terra faced his infatuated friend and snorted mentally at the way Zack muttered to himself as the girl walked slowly and gracefully to their direction.

"Stop talking to yourself and go get her," Terra chided. It was better than hearing him express regrets about watching her from afar instead of approaching her. And besides, it was in Zack's nature to be bold and confident, especially with girls.

"You don't understand, Terra. That girl is beautiful, sophisticated, AND rich. My charms may not be effective," he sighed.

Terra punched his shoulder. "That didn't stop you from hitting on Tifa before. And that was a stupider move too," he reminded.

"It was for the sake of waking up Cloud's feelings! And Tifa's not that rich," Zack retorted in annoyance. They both knew the truth, and Terra found the situation hilarious back in high school.

"Just go before you start whining. I'm at the short end of the stick when that happens," Terra said, pushing Zack off the staircase while laughing. He watched his best friend slowly make his way to the girl and noticed Zack's face was pink.

The girl fully clad in pink – even her umbrella was pink! – had chocolate-colored hair in a braid, but Terra was too far away to see what color her eyes were. Zack suddenly knelt in front of her, surprising both Terra and the girl, and Terra could hear the faint girlish giggle that came afterwards. Zack then stood up and walked together with the girl to the other direction, sending Terra a wink from afar before leaving.

Terra chuckled to himself. They were already in college, but there were some things that would never change.

But now he was stuck in a rut. He had no company, and he had no classes until 10 o'clock. Maybe this was a good time to check the library and study some more. He still didn't understand the difference between positron emission and gamma emission.

"Damn you, Chemistry," he muttered under his breath.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Kingdom Hearts.

**A/N:** Finally finished my semester, finished Organic Chemistry (which is by far the best branch of Chemistry), and finished the second chapter for this fic. Thank you **Nadaria**,** 3**, **WishingDreamer5**, **Child of the West Wind**, and **Highflyer123 **for reviewing the very first chapter! :D And thanks to everyone who read and waited! I'm sorry for updating this later than usual, so I hope this compensates!

**Covalent**

Chapter II

_"__One example of a chemical bond is the covalent bond."_

_**...**_

"Refrain from producing such cacophony as your friend, Mr. Fair, did last week."

The librarian pursed her pencil lead-thin lips and strutted stiffly to the nearest table to wake up a snoring student. Terra rolled his eyes and held back a chuckle. It was too typical of Zack to make such an impression and make the librarian believe Terra was just like him. She must have thought similar hairstyles equate similar attitudes.

He tiptoed his way to the bookshelves at the center of the room, remembering that the Chemistry book he borrowed last week could be found there. Once he managed to find the exact shelf, he brushed his fingers on the book spines in search of his preferred reference book.

_R. Garden Publishing_

_DiZ Fundamentals of General Chemistry_

He slowly removed the book from its spot in the bookcase and pulled out the chair in front of him, opening the book to the chapter about radioisotopes. He was still slightly confused about radioisotopes, and he had no idea why it was included with the first topics to be discussed in the semester. From what he remembered about their high school Chemistry classes, radioisotopes were one of the last topics.

"Oh… oh… oh, no…"

Terra's attention quickly moved away from the book and noticed a fair-skinned girl dressed in a blue get-up with short blue hair peeking through the space from where he took his book.

"Maybe she's looking for this book too," Terra thought, but he quickly brushed off thoughts of handing it over after searching for the book for minutes.

The girl was persistent, however, and Terra found himself getting distracted by watching her shuffle around the bookshelf, running her fingers on book spines as how he did earlier, muttering to herself about a Chemistry book.

"I swear I returned that book," he heard her whisper. "That librarian isn't doing her job right."

Perhaps it was time for him to intervene. As much as Terra wanted to quickly comprehend radioactivity, he couldn't just let a lady roam around him in distress, especially just because of a measly book and a mean librarian.

He rose to his feet, closing the large textbook, and walked towards the girl currently on her tiptoes, glancing upwards at a row she couldn't really reach.

"Uh, hey, you need anything?" he asked sheepishly.

She turned, and Terra almost stumbled backwards.

She had the most beautiful eyes he had ever seen. He was at a loss of words, drowning at the sight of the bright yet deep ocean staring at him.

_Snap out of it, Terra! _his subconscious screamed. _Don't get worked up over a girl!_

"Oh, I'm looking for DiZ Gen Chem," she replied immediately. "Do you–oh! It's with you!"

Terra rubbed the nape of his neck and looked at her anxiously, his lips forming what it seemed to be a shivering smile. "Y-yeah. I kinda need it right now," he told her. Terra was somewhat proud of himself that his voice didn't quiver.

The girl stared up at him, and Terra noticed their height difference. Her blue eyes were almost unyielding of rejection, but her words said otherwise, "Oh, that's no problem. I'm just making sure that the book is here. That stuffy librarian claims I haven't returned it, but here you are reading it."

Terra raised a brow. Was the librarian trying to get into everyone's 'who should I hate' list? A girl like this one looked innocent enough to get away with almost everything, and yet she was here trying to prove herself clean of possible library violations. "You kidding me? That bitc–"

"Language," the girl quickly interrupted. "Not because I'm prude, but because you might get banned from the library."

"What if I'm referring to female dogs?" he countered with a smirk.

The girl huffed, obviously not riled up by this banter. "Only believable if you were holding a Zoology textbook or a dictionary. But that is a Chemistry book, good sir," she answered with a smile.

_Her smile is pretty._

It was hard to suppress a smile in this situation. He never thought the girl would be feisty enough to retort his statements with wit. He had a hunch that she tried conversing with the librarian this way, which probably made the old woman keep an eye on her.

"Good sir? Do I look old enough to be addressed that way?" he asked, still smiling. "I may possibly have the same age as yours, not with your grandfather."

She giggled. _Her giggle is so cu-Terra! Snap out of it!_

"Well then, what should I call you?"

Figurative butterflies started popping inside his stomach. Was this how Zack usually felt whenever there was an attractive girl within his reach? This girl was actually asking for his name! She was making the first move!

"Terra. Tsukino Terra," he said, extending his arm out for a handshake.

What Terra didn't expect was to see the girl's eyes widen, to watch her slowly walk towards him, and to wrap her arms around him with glee.

"Oh, my worlds, it's actually you, Terra!"


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Kingdom Hearts.

**A/N: **Merry Christmas, my dear friends/readers! :D I hope you guys had a wonderful holiday. We still have New Year to wait for, but yeah. Updating this fic because I can. Thank goodness for vacations! And thank you to _Star-Shaped-X_, _Kaori_, _WishingDreamer5_, and _Amulet Misty_ for reviewing the previous chapter! :D Thank you also for all the reads, I hope you like this chapter (even though it is a bit of a 'lax/filler chapter). By the way, I'm planning to make Terra's and Aqua's schedule, and if you guys are interested to know them, just tell me and I'll share the info when it's ready. :)

**Covalent**

Chapter III

_"__A covalent bond involves electron pair sharing between atoms."_

**...**

"That bitch. I can't believe she kicked us out of the library!"

Terra chuckled. What irony it was that she warned him not to swear earlier and ended up swearing now. The librarian had caught them mid-hug and decided to unleash a scream so inhuman that probably every sleeping student in the library and students donning earphones agreed upon themselves that the library was haunted.

_"__Twilight Town University Library Rule No. 159 states that public or private displays of affection are extremely banned in every library in this campus!"_

"Well, no one would try to get in that library anymore with the way she screamed earlier," Terra answered with a smirk. The girl looked up at him – oh, their height difference was really cute! – with a distressed expression and exhaled sadly as she looked away.

"I haven't bought my textbooks yet, so I really need the library. Getting kicked out and banned for a week is not a good way to start this semester," she said sadly, a pout evident on her slim face.

"Well," Terra began with a thoughtful expression. "I know that the Engineering Library has a lot of Chemistry books in the Chemical Engineering section. The only reason why I went to the Chemistry Institute Library was because it's in the same building with all the Chemistry classrooms. Plus, getting banned won't make its way in your records. It'll just give that snooty woman faux satisfaction that she banned someone prettier than her from that stuffy place."

The girl smiled and nodded. "Thanks. I'll keep that in mind. I'm so glad I bumped onto you today, Terra, even though that cost me some library time."

Memories of his childhood with the girl flooded in his mind. Back then, she had dark berry blue hair instead of the bright cerulean blue shade. Her hair was long – too long, in fact. Terra's first memory of her was how she punched him on the shoulder after he pulled her long hair. His five-year old self couldn't help it – her hair was fixed in a high ponytail and it looked like a rope with loose, thin fibers.

After she punched him, Terra did the unthinkable and started mirroring her actions, starting with punching her in the shoulder as well. He swore he saw a flame spark in her eyes as she shoved him backwards until he tumbled onto the merry-go-round. He wasn't one to give up, however, and he pushed her with the same force she exerted on him, and the girl ended up bumping a boy with spiky red hair. The boy, in turn, ended up falling on a blonde building a sandcastle in the sand box.

Needless to say, the girl wasn't happy when her sandcastle was crushed.

"Hey, Terra, what time is your next class?" the girl asked.

Terra shook his head and paused on his reminiscing to remember. "Uh, ten o'clock. And yours?"

"Ten too!" she replied. "Our professor called in sick. In fact, most of the Chemistry professors are out today. I bet they had food poisoning from that taco the cafeteria served last week."

"Seriously? Did everyone but the professors notice that?" Terra joked.

"Probably. Or they were being nice to the cafeteria people," she said, chuckling. "Still, it reeked. They should have turned the dish down politely."

Terra shook his head. "They should have told them the truth, that it was spoiled. Look what happened to them."

The girl giggled before sitting on a nearby bench outside the Chemistry Institute building, Terra to follow. "You know, you haven't changed a bit."

"How'd you say so?" Terra asked with a raised brow. The corner of his lip curled upward. He couldn't believe she, of all people, would remember him even though they haven't seen each other for such a long time.

"You're still headstrong and willing to justify your ideas," she answered.

"Well, you have changed a lot, Ms. Nagare," he said with a smile. The girl scowled and lightly punched him on the shoulder.

"It's Aqua, you geek," she snapped. "What's with the formality? And how have I changed? Don't include physical aspects, mind you."

This was an easy answer for him. "For one, you don't punch me as hard as you used to."

He laughed and glanced at Aqua, whose eyes shined with such enthusiasm and amazement, and he knew his eyes expressed the same emotions. He expected her to punch him hard – and she did. Boy, did she pack a punch! Terra failed miserably to hide a wince, but Aqua quickly placed her hand on his shoulder.

"Oh, I'm so sorry!" she cried in worry.

"I'm fine, seriously," Terra said with a weak smile. "I have a healing bruise on the spot you punched, but it's healing, so you don't have to worry."

Aqua didn't look convinced, and her eyes – boy, did her eyes give away her feelings – scanned his shoulder down to his forearm with concern. "Your muscles are developed, but that doesn't mean you should allow bruises to get hit. Tell me next time! I don't want to hurt you."

Terra snorted. "Didn't stop you from making my butt fall on the merry-go-round when we were kids."

Her worried expression faltered, replaced by a nostalgic smile. "You pulled my hair! And you pushed me back!"

They both ended up laughing together at the memory. He was glad she didn't forget.

"Yeah… and you ended up falling on Lea, and he fell on Larxene," he continued, trying to stifle a laugh.

Aqua fell into a fit of giggles. "R-right! A-and then he ran away screaming because he knew she would shock him!" Terra's laughter slowly faded into a knowing smile as he watched Aqua laugh. Her laughter was soothing even though it was also erratic. "I'm still curious how Larxene shocks people with static electricity, though."

"Physics," Terra piped in. "She must have built up static electricity after using the slide in our playground a couple of times before shocking people."

"Wow. That's… pretty plausible," Aqua said as she twiddled her thumbs. "I thought she just liked the slide a little too much. I hate Physics, so I never really tried to understand it."

Terra chuckled. "Well, I hate Chemistry, but I keep trying to understand it."

She grinned. "I'm taking Biochemistry, so I have to like Chemistry. I'm doing a pretty good job with it, though. What are you taking, by the way?"

"Computer and Communications Engineering," Terra answered. He saw Aqua's eyebrows knit together, and he cut her off before she asked exactly what he expected her to ask. "Yeah, I don't know why Chemistry is a required subject for my degree program."

"I think I know why," Aqua said. Terra looked at her curiously, seeing her eyes sparkle with joy once again. "It wanted us to meet again."

Deep down, Terra wanted to stop his brain from making him blurt out the first thing that came to his mind: _are you saying we have Chemistry together?_

"Well, we would have met anyway sooner or later," she continued. Terra didn't know whether he felt relief or grief, but the sudden tightness on his chest diminished, which was good enough for him.

"It would be hard for me, though," Terra said. "Your hair color changed. And it's short."

Aqua laughed, running a hand through her soft-looking hair. "Oh, this? I just had a haircut because my brother refused to cut his hair if I didn't. And it's in my genes that my hair turns into a lighter shade of blue, you know."

Great, more scientific concepts Terra didn't want to know.

But at least he knew she had a brother now.

"Brother?"

"Yep! Ienzo, my little prodigy. I have pictures of him in my phone if you want to see," she said.

"Hey, since it's still 8:45, d'you want to have brunch or something?" Terra suggested. He didn't have the guts to tell her he skipped breakfast because of traffic.

"Oh, that would be nice. I'm kind of hungry too. Skipped breakfast," she answered. "Where do you want to eat?"

Terra rubbed the nape of his neck. "Well, I don't want to eat in the Chemistry Institute cafeteria."

She giggled, "Yeah. Me neither. I heard there's this great café near the Home Economics building! It's kind of far, but–"

"Heh, that's why I have a car," Terra interrupted cheekily.

Aqua replied with an impressed smile. "You're full of surprises, Terra."


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Kingdom Hearts.

**A/N: **I have bitter feelings towards my university's own Chemistry institute right now (for making my class take biochemistry during the summer instead of this semester, damn it!), so I decided to update this to calm myself down. Somehow, mixing Chemistry with Kingdom Hearts in a fanfic removes bad feelings. Thank you to _B. T. Emmett _and _WishingDreamer5 _for reviewing, as well to those who read and faved and followed! :D

By the way, Ventus is one year younger than Vanitas in this fic. Riku and Vanitas, meanwhile, have this nice frenemy bromance going on. Just putting those facts out there.

**Covalent**

Chapter IV

_"__Its prefix, co–, defines the associated action in the bond."_

**...**

"Wait, so that chick with the blue hair is your childhood sweetheart?"

It was a good thing that Aqua had already left their conversation because Terra didn't want her to see him smack the living daylights out of Zack and shove a fist in his big mouth.

"Friend, Zack. **Friend**," he emphasized, tugging one of Zack's hair spikes. The boy winced and tried to put Terra in a headlock, but Terra pushed him away and allowed him to fall on his rear end. Zack, unfazed by Terra's sudden brutality, leapt back on his feet and caught up with the now grumpy brun.

"Hey, hey, I was just joking," he yelped. "Terra, you're so mean today!"

"You provoked me," the boy grunted in reply.

Zack sighed and tried to keep up with Terra's faster pace. "So I heard you got banned from the Chemistry Institute Library, huh?"

A wave of relief washed over Zack at the sight of Terra's calming look. He sighed and nodded. "Yeah. The librarian thought we were showing PDA," he answered. He noticed the mischievous look in Zack's eyes and almost let out a snarl, but Zack quickly interrupted him.

"You kiddin'? I saw two upperclassmen eating each other's faces, and I'm pretty sure she noticed them when she passed by," he said. "Man, that old snoot probably targets freshmen."

"We don't even look like freshmen. My Chem lab partner thinks I'm a third-year student," Terra replied.

"Well, you look too serious," Zack said, grinning. "And I know how to loosen up that humorless look on your face."

Terra stops on his tracks and raises a brow at his best friend. "And how, pray tell, would you do that?"

"My treat at _Bunsenbeans _plus an enchanting tale of how my date with Aerith went," Zack offered, wiggling his eyebrows. It earned him Terra's laugh and approval.

"Fine, but I won't be driving you home."

"Aw, man!"

**...**

**_Inbox_**

_From: -Unknown-_

_Hey, Terra! This is Aqua, and this is my number. :)_

Terra grinned and quickly saved her number. He had been waiting for hours to receive a message.

_Compose Message_

_To: Aqua_

_hey! I thought you'd never text :P_

...

_Inbox_

_From: Aqua_

_You silly goose XD I had to buy some ingredients for dinner. Your friend is really... loud, by the way._

...

_Compose Message_

_To: Aqua_

_Zack? yeah… he's a total moron. met him in elementary. he and Lea had prank wars!_

...

_Inbox_

_From: Aqua_

_That involve fire?_

...

_Compose Message_

_To: Aqua_

_once. burnt our principal's toupee after giving them detention for starting a food fight haha! wanna have a mini-reunion with Lea and Larx this weekend?_

**...**

"Yo, bro, what's with that creepy smile on your face?" a cool voice came from behind. Startled, Terra almost dropped his phone on his face (as he was lying down on the couch), but he managed to catch it a few inches before it made contact with his nose.

"Riku, if you want to sneak up on someone, do it to Vanitas," he snarled, sitting up on the couch. His silver-haired younger brother shook his head and chuckled, taking a seat next to him.

"Nah. I'm not a jerk like him," the younger boy replied, taking a seat next to Terra as the latter sat up straight and smoothed out the creases on his shirt. Riku groaned and dropped his book bag in front of him, spreading out his arms like an eagle would with its wings during flight.

"So why are you late?" Terra asked. He noticed the wall clock read 7:39 PM, and Riku didn't bother to text him about going home late earlier.

"Club activities. Someone popped our Blitzball ball so we have to buy a new one," Riku answered. "Then I went with Vanitas and Ventus to pick up the troublesome twins from the daycare center."

Terra chuckled. "How'd Ven manage to convince Vanitas to pick up the twins?"

Riku shrugged. "Vani didn't want to, but Ven said he'd still go since Vanitas was being an 'irresponsible older brother.' He didn't budge until Ven and I bribed him with some cash."

"How much?"

"I paid him fake munny," Riku grinned, winking deviously at his brother. Terra could only shake his head, conflicted between feeling proud of his brother for outsmarting their delinquent of a neighbor or feeling terrified that Vanitas was actually influencing his brother to trick other people.

Well, since it was Vanitas, he guessed it was okay. But he never expected his brother, the little dork who dreamt of becoming famous for being a chivalrous man, to do a very unchivalrous thing.

"Hey, I know what you're thinking," Riku said, interrupting Terra's train of thought. "He gave me the fake munny last week. I had to return it to him."

"You could've just snuck it in his bag or shoved it in his mouth, y'know," Terra retorted, eyebrows knitted together in annoyance. Riku simply waved a hand in front of his face, dissing the idea.

"Can't you be happy that I outsmarted him today instead?" the boy sighed. "Speaking of happy, you didn't tell me why you were smiling earlier."

It wouldn't hurt to tell Riku, Terra thought. Aqua did see two-year old Riku back when they were still preschoolers. And they shared stories with each other earlier before their breaks ended. "Fine. I received a text from Aqua, my old classmate in preschool. I hadn't seen her for thirteen years and now we're both studying in the same university. I haven't even found her in KeyBook yet."

His brother's lips curled into a small smile. "That's nice. Great to know you're making friends instead of scaring people off."

He quickly tackled Riku, grunts of annoyance and yelps of, "Hey, let me go, you brute!" shooting at his ear, and messed his brother's long, flowing locks of silver. Riku's hair went from solemn waterfall to wild waves within a few seconds, which Terra knew would annoy his brother.

"Hey, watch it, bro!" Riku screeched, trying to tug on Terra's hair.

The boys fell on the floor, wrestling each other into painful grips and loud smacks, flying fists and raging kicks here and there while letting out laughs and yells. The television remote fell on the floor as they bumped onto the table it was on.

"What is going on here?!"

Terra's arm let go of Riku's head, but the younger boy bit him on the arm, making him howl in agony. Their father standing in the doorway placed his hand on his head and shook it in disapproval. "I didn't raise my sons and pay for their schooling just to find out they want to pursue careers in wrestling."

"He started it, Dad!" Riku replied as they both stood up, catching their breaths and fixing their clothes. "Ah, man! My uniform's all creased now."

"That's not my problem, young man," their father said as he closed the door. "Did you prepare any food, Terra?"

"Bought some delicious sandwiches from _Bunsenbeans, _Dad," Terra said.

"By the way, Dad," Riku interrupted. "Principal Xehanort told me to send you his regards."

Terra shuddered. He never liked Principal Xehanort, and he was pretty sure the man didn't like him and his family either.

"Oh? Tell Xehanort that Eraqus wishes him the best with the new hair growth formula he's using."

Terra would have laughed if not for him getting distracted by his phone's ringing that notified he had a new text from Aqua.


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Kingdom Hearts.

**A/N: **Again, an apology for not updating this as soon as I hoped. College is draining... (cries) and I don't have summer vacation because I have to take Biochem. Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy this chapter! Thanks for the reads, reviews, and follows! :D

**Edit: **Thank you to _Werde Spinner _for pointing out my error. It was such a great typo out of exhaustion (because really, we reviewed water molecules and I still had to type down the wrong thing *bows head in shame*).

**Covalent**

Chapter V

_"'__valent' comes from the word valence, which is the measure of an element's combining power with other atoms when it forms compounds or molecules."_

**...**

"H-hey, Aqua… what time's your next class?"

"Uh… two o'clock. I have a PE class then. Why?"

It was embarrassing to answer. Terra wanted Zack to teach him how to answer the questions in their lab manual, but the guy had other plans that involved begging Cloud for love advice. The guy was taking Criminal Law, for crying out loud, but Zack was persistent in his claims that Cloud wasn't that busy.

Terra didn't want Aqua to get the wrong idea, especially now that they had only reunited. He didn't want to think he was only using her.

"Well, can I ask help on how to make the post-lab report of the first experiment?" he squeaked, eyes closed. He was too nervous to look at Aqua. Though out of character for her, Terra still considered the possibility of her judging him because of this.

Instead, she placed a hand on his shoulder. "Sure. I'm pretty much done with mine. I just have to type down my answers," she replied.

"You're finished with yours? B-but we just did the experiment earlier!" Terra said. His brows furrowed while he tucked his lab gown in the laptop pocket of his backpack.

The girl beside him nodded and pulled out a piece of paper from her bag. It was her copy of the experiment's results sheet from the lab manual filled with scribbles of chemical equations and notes on cationic metals and anionic halides. "My partner and I decided to write down all the answers after seeing the reactions, and the questions are easy enough."

Easy was not how Terra would put it. Simple, yes, but he didn't find it easy to answer at all. He was too challenged with the subject, but he had the feeling that other students would find the experiment a cinch.

"It's due after two days, so when do you want me to help?" she continued with an eager grin. "Our English professor is out tomorrow."

"What time would that be?" he asked.

"Uh… 8:15 to 10. Are you free then?"

He blinked. It was perfect. "Yeah! My break's always during 8:30 to 10 every Wednesday and Friday."

She grinned. "Lucky you! My breaks are mostly for travel time around the campus, and fifteen minutes isn't enough between the Mathematics Institute and the Arts and Humanities Hall. My friends and I have to run for it!"

Terra chuckled and rubbed the nape of his neck. He would never know the pains of running within the campus because he owned a car.

"So… should I pick you up after your Math class?"

"Sure!" she answered gleefully. "Your car is a fancy piece of work. And you're not a bad driver either."

Zack had told him that before (and implied he wanted to have Terra as his personal driver if he didn't mind not getting paid), but hearing it from Aqua made his heart squeeze and feel lightness at the same time. It was probably relief; Aqua was kind enough to help him.

He couldn't deny, though, that his feelings of anxiety and joy messed up the digestive processes of his body. It was almost as if… the feelings were both reacting within him.

_No. No. _It was just the influence of the previous experiment.

**...**

"So you're saying that most salts dissolve in water because they are composed of ions that… associate with the polar water molecules? What does polarity have to do with this?"

The confidence in Aqua's eyes was very evident as she opened a copy of _DiZ Gen Chem _("It's from the Engineering Library, thank you very much. The librarian there is reasonable," said Aqua), and showed him a table of ionic compounds with glee. Aqua pointed at the paragraph below it which stated the answer to Terra's question, but the girl was eager to explain too.

"Well, a polar molecule has a positive side and a negative side."

She proceeded to draw a water molecule on the back page of her Chemistry notebook, with one large circle at the center and two smaller ones below it diagonally, forming an obtuse angle. She wrote a cursive H inside each small circle before glancing back at Terra.

"This," she pointed at her drawing, "…is H2O. Water. Composed of an oxygen atom represented by that big circle, and two hydrogen atoms or the small circles. Oxygen needs two electrons to obtain the noble gas configuration. Each hydrogen atom needs one more electron to obtain their special noble gas configuration." She glanced at him. "You do know about that, right?"

He nodded, aware of the rules on noble gas configurations and chemical bonding.

"Okay. So two hydrogen atoms will give the oxygen atom the electrons it needs, and vice versa. Since they share electrons, they form a covalent bond. However, oxygen is more electronegative than hydrogen, which means it has a higher affinity for electrons when compared to hydrogen's affinity. So, in the water molecule, the oxygen atom is partially negative and the two hydrogen atoms are partially positive."

Terra snapped his fingers. "Oh, so you're saying that… the positive ion of the salt gets attracted to the partially negative side of the water molecule and the negative ion of the salt goes for the partially positive side?"

"Yep! You got it," she cheered, giving him two thumbs up. She slammed the book shut and grinned at him. "Just read the solubility rules in the lab manual and you're good to go."

He sheepishly looked down and pursed his lips, feeling his throat dry up as he thought of looking at the lab manual. How could he possibly tell Aqua he was having such a hard time understanding such a simple concept?

Too engrossed in his thoughts, he didn't notice Aqua place a hand on his clenched fist. "Hey… you okay? I'm sensing something here."

"O-oh!" he exclaimed, realizing her hand's soft skin was on his. "I…"

She tutted. "Terra, don't feel bad for asking me stuff for Chemistry. I'm here to help," she said in a very gentle voice. "In fact, I'm not really that good in Chemistry either. I just read the lessons in advance."

He sighed, still ashamed to look up. "I was really bad in Chemistry back in high school. I couldn't understand our teacher because he was such a horrible snot, but it's still not an excuse to try."

"Don't be so hard on yourself." Her voice wasn't calm anymore. "This is college now. Just because you weren't good back then doesn't mean you'd still be now. And besides…" Her voice was becoming warmer again. "…I know you can do it."

He looked up to say thanks, but he felt the words scamper back into his mind when he saw how calming her smile was.

**...**

_Inbox_

_From: Cloud_

_Hey, rocks for brains. Who was that girl you were hanging with in Bunsenbeans?_

**...**

_Compose Message_

_To: Cloud_

_You saw me? And you didn't even bother to say hi?_

**...**

_Inbox_

_From: Cloud_

_Chill. Tifa's working part-time in Bunsenbeans and she saw you there._

**...**

_Compose Message_

_To: Cloud_

_Morning shift? What time's her class?_

**...**

_Inbox_

_From: Cloud_

_WF 10:30 am (lucky, I know) T 8 am Th 9 am. She works every WF for the breakfast shift. Now stop changing the subject. Who. Is. The. Girl._

**...**

_Inbox_

_From: Zack_

_LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL SO CLOUD'S MESSAGING ME ABOUT WHO YOUR BLUE HAIRED-CHICK FRIEND IS. GONNA LET YOU READ THE TEXT TOMORROW, SO FRKN HILARIOUS HE'S LIKE A JEALOUS GIRLFRIEND EVEN THOUGH HE'S NOT A GIRL AND YOU GUYS AREN'T IN A RELATIONSHIP_

**...**

_Inbox_

_From: Cloud_

_Terra, please tell Zack to stop spamming me with emojis._

**...**

_Inbox_

_From: Aqua_

_Heyyy! Sorry for the late reply, I just picked my brother up from school. I checked your post-lab answers and you got them all right! Although… your handwriting…_

**...**

_Compose Message_

_To: Aqua_

_Really? I got them right?_

**...**

_Inbox_

_From: Aqua_

_Yep! :D Good job, Terra!_

**...**

_Compose Message_

_To: Aqua_

_Thanks! I wouldn't have done it without you :)_

**...**

_Inbox_

_From: Cloud_

_Since when did you learn how to ignore the very person who made your Moogle account?_

**...**

_Compose Message_

_To: Cloud_

_Sorry, man. Just finished my Chem post lab report and got Aqua to check it for me._

**...**

_Inbox_

_From: Cloud_

_Aqua, huh? Well, that's all I wanted to know._

**...**

_Inbox_

_From: Zack_

_Aw man! Y u gotta tell him who your blue-haired girl was, dude? He was sending me the most hilarious texts ever!_

**...**

_Inbox_

_From: Lea_

_HEARD THAT YOU HAVE A LADY FRIEND_

**...**

_Compose Message_

_To: Larxene_

_Could you do me a favor and set Lea's hair on fire if you're with him right now?_

**...**

_Inbox_

_From: Larxene_

_Done. He and Zack ran to the bathroom to dip their heads in the toilet bowl. XD_

_But that still won't change the fact that you have a lady friend and WE NOW KNOW ABOUT IT_

**...**

_Compose Message_

_To: Larxene_

_Have you guys considered that she's just my friend?_

**...**

_You received a KeyBook photo message from Larxene!_

_Caption: Gotta love the flamin' hair (and don't be shy, we know you like her)_

**_..._**

_Inbox_

_From: Aqua_

_Awww! :D Well, just remember I'll always be here for you if you need anything._


End file.
